Merry Christmas!

I’ve shared this extended quote with friends before. It seems an appropriate reflection as we consider the gift we have in Christ, and perhaps more so as we experience a pendulum swing in certain aspects of our culture. Please consider this perspective with me, once again, as we look forward to Christmas:

“John [the Apostle] brought in things that didn’t belong so that people whose lives didn’t fit the pattern could celebrate Jesus.

“It makes a kind of sense that someone who spent his life making friends with paupers, prostitutes, publicans, and other pariahs, like Jesus did, should begin his story with tales including those who didn’t fit. Despite our desires and our propaganda, Christmas is not a seamless robe of rich, tasteful, conservative colors.  It is made up of things that don’t belong – odd people, odd ideas, all tuned up a little bit and joined together...  

“...The patchwork quilt of Christmas is not conventionally attractive, but the lives of many are not conventionally pretty or serene. Some people’s lives have never been nice. Other people’s lives kick over the traces sometimes and turn ugly. Without warning, or deserving, people lose their jobs, their homes, their health, their wives or husbands, their innocence. People like this can’t deal with a holiday that’s all Brooks Brothers and Norman Rockwell, Mother Teresa and saintly graybeards, chamber music and family albums.  They need a holiday that’s more like a consignment shop – all kinds of stuff that doesn’t fit, arranged with a smile and a hope.  

“The Good News is that’s just the way the New Testament tells the story – street kids on the night shift with the flock, a pregnant, unwed teenager, invitations to offbeat groups.  

“It is so close to being funny. It is such good-spirited mockery of our middle-class merchandising and half-hearted hopes that you have to smile at least a little and seek the hands and hearts of those whose lives don’t fit. For Christmas, along with the whole gospel, is especially for them.”

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The year in review…
Having moved to Sioux Falls just over a year ago, this past May I was happy to move from an apartment into a house along West Mesa Pass. For this first year I decided to leave the surrounding land fallow, though this coming spring I may cultivate the back forty [square feet] to see what I can harvest next fall.

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My Latest Hobby... In my copious free time I’ve been reviewing 10-hour long “Relaxing White Noise” videos.

To explain, I noticed a trend on YouTube where members of a younger generation will post “First Time Hearing” reaction videos that feature popular songs of the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. 

Our culture may have enough memes and lampoons, though it’s tempting to add to them by producing full-length reaction videos of my favorite relaxing white noise tracks, such as: Rushing River Sounds, Train Sounds, Private Jet Ambience, Crackling Campfire, and the triple-feature hit, Rain, Thunder, and Ocean Waves.

With my monotone reviews, the series is sure to be popular among insomniacs and tinnitus sufferers. I’ll add insult to injury by asking people to “like” the videos, subscribe to the channel, and “hit the bell, so you’ll be notified as new videos come out.”

Feel free to follow along with my exploits as a social media influencer iconoclast. Here’s where I post things most often: https://jkenaston.blogspot.com/.

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Merry Christmas to you all!

May God’s grace be with you as you strive on in good faith and service to our Lord.